Hello again all,

Well, back to John Kerry's visit to Mexico --as I've mentioned before,
we don't think US government officials should be able to visit any city
in the world without hearing about Mumia and other U.S. political
prisoners. When they come here, we often don't know if they see us or
hear us, but this time they definitely did.

As usual, John Kerry's agenda was kept secret until the last minute, but
we found out he was going to be in the Mexico City Z&oacutecalo and were able
to deliver a letter to him demanding that the Obama government push for
Mumia's release. Before he got there, we'd tried to give it to a lady
who seemed to be in charge of things, but she refused to receive it.

When he arrived, however, he saw our banner that we'd unfurled in the
middle of a small crowd of onlookers (who'd all been given tiny American
flags to wave) and also saw the letter two of our people were waving at
him. He told the lady to accept it, and she did.read more...

Education was supposedly the major issue of Kerry's talks with
government officials and businessmen this time, but security is always
on the agenda. So we concentrated on that in an article we published on
several independent media sites, "Five Questions for John Kerry",
concentrating on the security-related issues none of these officials
ever address: mass incarceration, ICE detention centers, Guantánamo,
solitary confinement and political prisoners.
read more...

You probably didn't see it on FOX or any mainstream media, but on
Friday, January 17, 2014 a press conference was held outside the offices
of FOX 29 (WTXF-TV) in Philadelphia. The purpose was to denounce the
attacks of FOX analysts and the Fraternal Order of Police on Mumia
Abu-Jamal and on Debo Adegbile, President Barack Obama's nominee to head
the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

*So glad to hear about the strong campaign kickoff in Philly on April
24th . I'm sending some news and pics from the Mumia birthday
activities in Mexico City. *

*After a couple of hours of rain, our rally outside the U.S. Embassy in
Mexico City on April 24th started up with dancing and drumming, and we
presented a new banner painted by long-time Mumia supporter, Aurelio.
Right away two busloads of friends from San Salvador Atenco came in with
strong solidarity messages from Ignacio del Valle and others. They
consider Mumia an example and an inspiration and have always appreciated
the fact that he spoke out in their support when the Mexican government
unsuccessfully tried to keep Ignacio and Felipe Álvarez en prison for
112 and 67 years, respectively. *

*A message from political prisoner Alberto Patishtán was also read by
his son Héctor. You may remember that Mumia wrote a piece in his
support last October, "The State and the Schoolteacher". And this is the
second message Alberto has sent in support of Mumia. The first was from
the prisoners in the two collectives he has organized inside Chiapas
prisons, La Voz del Amate and Solidarios de La Voz del Amate, and the
second was his own personal message.*

*Several other solidarity messages were read, and a comrade spoke about
the case of another Mexican political prisoner, Pedro Peralta, in
Eloxochitlán, Oaxaca. *

*Eva Palma sang and spoke about Mumia's life and struggle. She is a
cultural worker and the companion of Kuy Kendall, our comrade who was
shot in the head with a "non-lethal" projectile in the December 1
protests against the inauguration of Mexican president Enrique Peña
Nieto and is still unconscious in the hospital.*

*Jorge Salinas played the guitar and sang corridos, Luisillo and Andrés
played the drums and recited poetry, Revolución Anónima rapped, and the
reggae bands Luna Negra and Ollin Roots closed the event. *

*The night before the rally, the screening of COINTELPRO 101 prompted an
interesting question and answer session with Claude Marks of Freedom
Archives via Skype, organized by the Radio Zapote collective. And the
day after the rally, we had a well-attended birthday party at the Che
Guevara Auditorium.*

The DA has earned the right to be our focus on Mumia's born-day. The Philadelphia DA's Office has a history of injustice and oppression: Ed Rendell 1978-1986, Ron Castille 1986-1991, Lynne Abraham 1991-2010, and Seth Williams 2010-present

From Mumia's arrest up until now, the Philadelphia DA's office has been a key player in the conspiracy to kill Mumia Abu-Jamal and later to keep him in prison for the rest of his life, despite extensive evidence of his innocence and of police, prosecutorial, and judicial misconduct in the case. Mumia should never have even been arrested, much less found guilty and sentenced to death.

End Solitary Confinement! End the Death Penalty! Reclaim Education!
End Mass Incarceration! Free All Political Prisoners!